So many causes, so many heroes – why defame them with a statue?

Monuments used to be the fetish of backward conservatives – now the left is at it too. We can admire the likes of Mary Seacole and Mary Wollstonecraft, but statues are a kitsch, ineffective way to remember them in the 21st century

It is the good cause that all politicians back: George Osborne recently allotted £240,000 from banking fines to pay for a statue of Mary Seacole next to the Thames. Campaigners announced Seacole will be unveiled as soon as June. The rival candidates for London mayor also found common ground in speaking up for the Crimean war heroine – Zac Goldsmith couldn’t even find it in him to brand her a Victorian terror sympathiser.

Related: Wanted, dead or alive: do statues always leave our hearts stone cold?

Related: Black History Month needs a rethink: it’s time to ditch the heroes | David Olusoga

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